Deliberative democracy and te ao Māori in the pursuit of climate change governance

Climate change is the biggest threat to humanity. But some groups, such as Indigenous peoples will face worse effects than others. In Aotearoa (New Zealand) researchers are just starting to study how climate change will affect the health of Indigenous Māori. We spent two years working with health boards to help them think about climate change in their health plans and policies. This showed us that Māori voices were vital in this process. We argue the way decisions are made about climate and health needs to change. Our participants led us to think Aotearoa needs a deeper form of democracy - deliberative democracy. Evidence shows that deliberative democratic processes help improve governance for climate change, and traditional and ongoing practices within te ao Māori provide a lived example for the rest of the motu (country) of how to carry out deliberative democracy in practice.